EXPO 2015

EXPO ESCAPES

Expo Pavilion Tours

Expo Milan, the Universal event is a unique opportunity for Country Branding with single pavilions, acting as giant business cards built just north west of Milan.
Our unique Pavilion tour, run in conjunction with Viaggi di Architettura for the entire duration of the 2015 Milan event, travel company specialized in architecture walks and tours around the world, will take you behind the scenes of the most interesting pavilions, facts and figures of the 2015 Expo in Milan.
Ever since the first Universal Exposition participating countries have been in competition to create the biggest, most expensive, most visited pavilions on Expo sites around the world, showcasing up and coming architects and archistars alike. Every participant is after that WOW factor that miraculously forms the longest queue outside the pavilion, and often turns the temporary building into an object to photograph and publish on websites, newspapers and magazines the world over.
In their international calls to find innovative designs, governments and Expo Commissions often award first prize to models that showcase sustainability and that are able to attract the attention of the media.
With several million euros invested for the construction and running of each pavilion, governments are anxious to have a good return on their investment in the form of capital image: visibility, publications, number of visitors entering into the space, articles on and off line and general buzz and consents.
The experience of The Seed Pavilion, the official UK Pavilion at Expo Shanghai 2010, taught the world how unique country branding can give an exceptional ROI for an event of this nature. Although the pavilion was one of the smallest on the Chinese site, the Thomas Heatherwick designed structure received more tourists than any other UK monument in 2010. Even though it was not on UK soil, the number of visitors exceeded tourists to Buckingham Palace and Big Ben.
Our Pavilion tour will start with an overview on the Masterplan of the 110 hectare site designed by Stefano Boeri, Richard Burdett, Mark Rylander and Jacques Herzog on the theme ‘Feed the Planet, Energy for Life’. A guided walk though the masterpieces created for the 2015 event illustrating the concepts, plans, architects and designers behind the winning bids, construction methods, costs and content inside the temporary structure.
Like a walk around a huge fun fair for architects, we will encounter the official Italy Pavilion Palazzo Italia, the World Avenue, Lake Arena, and the Expo Centre, and go in depth with a handful of unique constructions like that designed by Foster & Partners for the UAE Pavilion, the Carlo Ratti design for New Holland, and Daniel Libeskind for China Vanke to mention just a few.

Price of the walking tour per person: €60, includes an exclusive book with information on the single pavilions.
Maximum number of people per tour: 12
Duration of tour: 6 hours
Languages available: English, Italian, German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Chinese.